cat and mouse-clash between police and radicals

Cat and mouse

Nobody really had an idea about what happened. Fact is, it was raining stones, sticks and tear gas, a never ending hurdle-race.G8? Africa? Never mind, there are other things going on here. It seems this was all about a test of strength: Anarchists against the Police and vice versa.

After all, the demonstration was going on well. Our interviewers were all peaceful, concerned, critical individuals and groups who were building the G8 resistance. They had many interesting visual articulations, such as funny images, costumes and logos, which expressed their non-violent point of view about regional, national or global issues. For a moment I felt a kind of Woodstock-carnival mood. As I started to realize what was really going on with this demonstration, the picture dramatically changed. It was a drastic visual shift, from the colourful, diverse and comical into the dark, uniformed, completely masked and aggressive shouting people in formation. As soon as they emerged, the mood changed. There was not much time left to evaluate the thoughts and feelings. Shots were heard, run! Figure out what happened. The masked didn’t wanted to give any interviews, neither did the police. Both the police as well as the anarchist were looking and behaving alike. The police were in green uniforms. The Anarchist were dressed in black. Both were masked and filmed each other. Both spoiled the Woodstock carnival-mood, and seem to emphasize that peaceful and non-violent protest is a myth.

But despite the police and the anarchist played cat and mouse, the majority of the demonstrators tried to do business as usual and declared their manifestation. I saw parents with young children passing by, just a few meters away from the place where the anarchists were showering the police with stones and the police, in return, fogging the provoking anarchists and bystanders with tear gas. The whole situation was surreal. As if you crossed two different worlds within a few meters.

Though the picture seems to be perfect, there are still open answers. To my question about how he experiences the cost-cutting policy in the Police Sector, one policeman replied with a smile that it is a wide field and that he is in service. It seems there are many stories to tell about the G8-politics and its consequences. It is just that the ones demonstrate peacefully against it, the other suppress their personal dilemma in order to survive. Then again others are happy to find an outlet to apply all their anger and frustration, (caused by anything from God to their girl friends) against the political system with a stone-rain!